The question you asked is an excellent one. What part
does Satan play in Rev.13 with the other two beasts? I
will explain to you what I believe for whatever
that's worth. By the way, I agree with the majority of
your post except for the identity of the angel that is
sent by God with the key to open the bottomless pit. I
believe this is one of God's angels and not Satan himself.
God has the key to the earthly prison where
these fallen angels and demons reside and I
believe He sends one of His angels with the key
to open it.
Satan has tried to copy and corrupt everything the
true God has put in place. The bible says and we believe
in a triune God or the Trinity.....Father, Son (Jesus),
and Holy Spirit. Satan has copied and corrupted this by
forming his own evil trinity which consists
of.................
-----Satan, the dragon, Lucifer
-----The first beast in Rev. 13, Apollyon, Abandon,
Apollo, ruler of the bottomless pit, the spirit of this
demon to indwell the image of a king who died
but will appear to rise again to be the eighth king
of the same kingdom, the one we call the antichrist
-----The second beast in Rev.13, the false
prophet (more on him in a later post)
And whereas it is difficult for us to understand the
workings and interaction of the blessed trinity....the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it is also difficult to
understand what happens with the demonic trinity in Rev.
13.
It appears that the first beast we call the antichrist
is a spirit being from the bottomless pit who takes on the
image of a fallen king but the real power of this
first beast is derived from Satan himself who also appears
to indwell the first beast. We can gather this by what the
scripture says in Rev.13:4.....So they worshiped the
dragon who gave authority to the beast (first beast); and
they worshiped the beast.......My interpretation of that
is that both the spirits of Satan and
Abandon-Apollyon have indwelled this first beast from
the sea or the bottomless pit.
We have scripture to back this up as Donna Danna
referenced Judas Iscariot being indwelled by Satan. Also
other characters in the bible being indwelled by what the
bible calls "legions" of evil spirits. Multiple evil
spirits or demons indwelling a single person. So certainly
it would be no stretch saying that the spirits
of Satan and Abandon indwelled the first beast
or the antichrist at the same time.
The power to do vast miracles....make fire come down
from the sky.....seems to be limited to Satan alone and
not the other demonic spirit beings. Satan was created
above all the other angels and appears to have
unique powers that went with the
authoritative position God gave him.
Notice from scripture that the first and second beast
have no power if separated from Satan. Rev.13:2 states
that Satan the dragon gave the first beast his power,
throne, and great authority. Without Satan's indwelling
the first beast has no power. Also note that in Rev.13:12
the second beast has no power unless he is in the presence
of the first beast...... who is indwelled by
Satan....where the power is.
So the bottom line is whenever the first or second
beast display power it really comes from Satan himself.
And as you stated Mike at the end of the tribulation
period the first and second beasts (the antichrist and the
false prophet) are destroyed in the lake of fire but Satan
is not. He is chained until the end of the millennium
kingdom of 1000 years where he is released again
to organize a revolt against the most high God.
The bible never says that the first beast has
a deadly head wound that was healed. This is a
common falsehood that everyone seems to believe. Lets
look at what the bible really says in Rev.13. It says that
this first beast the antichrist has seven heads ...."And I
saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded,
and his deadly wound was healed."
Now we know from what God tells us about this same
beast in Rev.17 that the seven heads stand for seven
kings. So then it's one of these seven kings that is
wounded. Lets plug that back into the same
verse...."And I saw one of the seven kings as if he had been mortally
wounded, and his deadly wound was healed." Notice also
that God didn't say that this king was mortally wounded, He said as if he was mortally wounded.
Can we plug this information into what God tells us in
Rev.17 about this same beast to help determine the
identity of this beast?
God tells us through John in Rev. 17 that there are
seven kings of a kingdom and one of these seven kings who
has died will arise from the bottomless pit to be the
eighth king (was, and is not, and yet is) and
will also become the first beast or the antichrist.
John was focused on one of these kings in the present
tense when he had his vision. The king he was focused
on was the sixth king.
Keep in mind some present day king of a
kingdom of only seven kings will become the
first beast or the antichrist. This is not speculation this is directly
from God's word. Obama does not qualify!!!
So do we know any kingdoms that have formed in recent
history that have had only seven kings, are awaiting
the eighth king, and have had a king that was mortally
wounded but survived? Yes, The Vatican became
it's own country in 1929 and has had seven popes who are
the legal kings of The Vatican State. The present
pope is the seventh and the next will be the eighth. The
sixth pope or king was
mortally wounded by being shot but his deadly wound was
healed.
Which king or in this case pope was John focused
on that the bible says will be wounded and survive? The
sixth. John says in Rev.13 that this wounded head meaning
king is the antichrist. He also tells us that
the coming eighth king or pope will be the first
beast or the antichrist coming up from the bottomless
pit. He also tells us that this beast was alive, died
and will appear to come alive again and he is one of the
first seven kings or in this case popes.
God through John in Rev.17 tells us that this
first beast is affiliated with a worldwide
blasphemous organization which oversees peoples,
multitudes, nations and tongues. ......The Roman Catholic
Church.
John in Rev.17 tells us that the primary colors of this
organization are scarlet and purple. These are
the colors of the cardinals and bishops of the RCC.
John in Rev.17 tells us this organization deals with
golden cups or chalices full of abominations. The golden
chalices of the RCC are raised to heaven
worldwide thousands of times daily on the RCC altars
in the celebration of the Mass or the Eucharist . They
through an un-bloody sacrifice atone for our sins by
re-sacrificing Jesus daily.....as if Jesus didn't do it
correctly on the cross. If that's not a cup full of
abominations I don't know what is.
John in Rev.17 speaks of a woman and her
affiliation with this beast and how this woman rides the
beast .....or are a team. This woman has three different
meanings and indeed forms a team with the beast. The woman
represents a world wide organization or in this case
church...the RCC. She also represents a false Mary
(not the mother of God) that the RCC has given multiple
blasphemous titles to. ..."And I saw a woman sitting on a
scarlet beast which was full of names
of blasphemy". And she also represents a
city built on seven hills or seven mountains......Rome,
the famous city built on seven hills.
John in Rev.17says this woman, this
organization, is drunk with the blood of the saints
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. That couldn't
be true about the RCC....could it? The RCC in the Middle
Ages murdered, put to death, burned at the stake, millions
of Jews and true Christians that would not kneel to the
authority of papal states and their blasphemous
workings. It wasn't until Napoleon Bonaparte put an end to
the power of the papal states that the slaughter ended.
John in Rev.18 described this organizations
trappings like this......gold and silver, precious stones
and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every
kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every
kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron and
marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and
frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle
and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of
men.
Only a Catholic or x-Catholic like myself can
appreciate the descriptions of these trappings as they
apply to the RCC.
The gold and silver, precious stones and pearls
describe the ornate chalices made from gold and silver
imbedded with gems and precious stones as also are
their fancy ornate robes.
Fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet describes the
vestments (fancy clothing) worn by the priests, bishops
and cardinals.
Every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of
ivory, every kind of object of precious wood, bronze, iron
and marble describes the interior and exterior of the
RCC churches. Think about midnight Mass and the
interior of St. Peters Basilica in Rome.
Cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and
frankincense.....most people have witnessed the incense
burners hung by chains used in the RCC celebrations that
are filled with incense, cinnamon, fragrant oil and
frankincense.
Wine and oil, fine flour and
wheat.......every day the RCC takes wine and wafers
made with fine flour and wheat and
mumbo-jumbo--presto turns them literally into the body and
blood of Christ (not)
Cattle and sheep, horses and chariots....In John the
Revelator's day an indication of the wealth of a person
was determined by the number of cattle, sheep, horses and
chariots one had. This is John's way of saying that this
organization, the RCC, was very rich....and we know how
true that is.
Taking in consideration all
the above information and biblical facts.........
I call on Mathman and all the other numbers people on
Doves to estimate what the odds are that this first beast
the antichrist is not a risen image of
the sixth pope .....John Paul II. A
beast who will be indwelled by two demonic spirit
beings Satan and Abandon /Apollyon. Who will
completely mesmerize and dazzle the planet at his
arrival.
.......Rev.17:8 "And those who
dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not
written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the
world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and
yet is."....Rev.13:3 .."And all the world marveled
and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who
gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped the
beast."
The world will be in terrible condition
at the antichrist's arrival which I believe
will be at the rapture. Millions of people will have
just disappeared, the world economy will be in
shambles (it already is), there will be wars and
dissention all over the globe. The
antichrist will speak great things and establish a
seven year plan or agreement (covenant) to fix these problems. His great
oratory skills along with his lying signs and wonders
will convince the world to try his plan... his covenant.
At some point he will OK the new Jewish temple and their
daily sacrifices.
It will take this risen beast /image of a pope 42
months or 3.5 years to schmooze and pied piper the planet
and completely orchestrate his
global plan. This duo (Satan and Abandon) who
makes up the antichrist will use 10 kings
(Jesuits) who prior to this had no kingdom of their own
but will be given one. They will break the world up into
ten parts. It appears that when the second beast, the
false prophet arrives on scene he will subdue 3 of
the original 10 kings... Dan.7:24-25 and Dan.7:8...(I
know this is contrary to the norm and I will explain this
and many of the other terrible attributes of the
false prophet in a soon post and also his identity)
Then, after the initial 42 months of
schmoozing the planet and completely consolidating
his power, the honeymoon will be over the mask will come
off. The antichrist, this risen image of a former
pope will expose the true demonic beast /beasts
that he is. He will then declare himself to be the
true God. Scripture says....He will blaspheme the
real true God, blaspheme God's name, His tabernacle
and those who dwell in heaven. He will make war and
overcome the saints. Authority will be given to him over
the whole world. All who dwell on earth will worship him
except those whose names are written in the Book of the
Lamb.
Now that he has declared himself to be God he will
cancel all the sacrifices and offerings for Jews in their
temple, the sacrifice and offering of bread and wine at
the Mass for Catholics and any other religion that offers
sacrifices and offerings to their gods. He will say that
all these worldwide sacrifices and offerings will no
longer be necessary because the god of all gods
(himself) is now on earth headquartered in Rome and
all this god worship will now be directed to him. Anyone
who will not take his mark, worship him or his
talking image will be put to death. And there will be
thousands upon thousands of fallen angels, demons, aliens,
creatures from the bottomless pit and evil earth
people aligned with him to enforce those death
penalties.
Along with his butchery and the simultaneous wrath
of God in the great tribulation, precious few
individuals will come out the other end of this
almost seven year period. ......"if God had not shortened
these days all flesh on earth would have perished."
Enough for today..........
Blessings.........John B
P.S.....Also take note and heed the warning God gives
to Catholics in Rev.18:4.......And I heard another
voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her (the Roman
Catholic Church) my people, lest you share in her sins,
and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have
reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
This brings up a very scary point. As per scripture
when we accept Jesus and His atonement for our sins on the
cross we become born again and God says our sins
are forgotten and remembered no more. Now contrast
that with what God says about the Catholic Church and it's
members in Rev.18:4. That if you do not 'come out of
her' or leave the Catholic Church that your sins will be remembered
by God. To me that means you may not or will not be
raptured and may very well loose your salvation.
That scenario makes for much anxiety and
prayer when friends, relatives and loved ones are
Catholic and we have the rapture of the church knocking on
the door.
As I said in the beginning of this post Satan has tried
to copy and corrupt everything God has put in
place. God's original Church at it's inception was
made up primarily of Jews. Paul and all the apostles were
Jews as were for the most part the first
thousands of converts. As the church grew and the good
news of the gospel went out we the Gentiles embraced the
message and God's church was formed and grew like
wildfire. Satan wanted no part of this and did
whatever he could to taint the original message and taint
the operating instructions we go by.....the bible.
Satan did this in large part by infiltrating this
growing church and the amalgamation of the eastern and
western branches.....Constantinople and Rome. When the
Roman branch of the church finally took power it
brought into the church multiple pagan / Satanic
rituals and teachings. From that point on the Roman
Catholic Church has added and added more blasphemies and
abominations as the centuries have transpired. This
Satanic Catholic Church tried to wipe
out God's true Christian churches and their
followers murdering millions of them until Napoleon
Bonaparte put an end to it.
There was a time when my ancestors from Europe had
a choice, die or convert to the Roman Catholic Church.
They were weak and chose life. The
first few generations after that stayed Catholic
because of fear and as time went on generation after
generation never knew why they were Catholics. Certainly
if there was something wrong or evil with this religion
our fathers or grandfathers would have left the
church. And also it was drummed into their heads at a
young age that it was the only true church and if you left
or went to another church you would surely go to hell.
Catholics were never encouraged to read their bibles (my
people perish for the lack of knowledge) and the services
were in Latin consequently they never knew the myriad of
blasphemies and abominations that permeated their
religion. When you compare Catholic doctrine and
practices with God's word from the bible you find
that Satan's corruption of the Catholic Church was
completely successful.
Warn your Catholic friends........time is
short........the rapture and the great tribulation is
knocking on our doors........hopefully our Catholic
friends and relatives won't go down with the ship